Page 20: of Marine Technology Magazine (May 2017)

Underwater Defence

Tech Notes data interfaces to enable integration of a wide range of add-on

Conclusion deep sea instruments and samplers that oceanographers may Microspheres are intrinsically valuable voids because they need to support their deep sea research. can fortify structures to make them stronger without burden-

SuBastian recently completed its ? rst expedition on newly ing them with extra weight. discovered hydrothermal vent sites, possibly ? nding new spe- Through customization and testing of high–tech hollow glass cies in the Mariana Back-Arc, an extreme deep-ocean envi- microspheres, deep sea exploration vehicle manufacturers are ronment. This is the ? rst series of scienti? c dives for the ROV. able to meet their strength and weight speci? cations for each

Equipped with numerous cameras, including a high-de? nition unique vehicle. 4K video camera, the dives were live streamed onto YouTube The ability to manipulate, customize and test buoyancy and watched by millions. The multidisciplinary team will con- foams manufactured with enhanced HGMS for deep sea ex- tinue to analyze the data and samples collected during this ploration vehicles is a critical part that must not be overlooked expedition to advance research on how life thrives on these when specifying buoyancy packages for these vehicles. As extreme deep-sea hydrothermal vents. This research was sup- such, vehicle manufacturers should look to work with sup- ported by the NOAA Ocean Exploration and Research Pro- pliers that can manufacture and test these small, but essential, gram, the NOAA Paci? c Islands Regional Of? ce and the microspheres for use in their buoyancy.